Bridget Louise Riley, CH, CBE (b.1931)

Study November 14

Signed, titled and dated ’86
Gouache on Paper
26¼ x 25⅛ inches – 66.6 x 63.8 cms

Provenance: Mayor Rowan Gallery, London;
Private Collection, UK by 1987 Literature: Exhibition catalogue, "Bridget Riley Works 1961-1998", Kendall, Abbot Hall Art Gallery, 1998, pp.66-67, 79, No.34, illustrated
Exhibitions: Kendall, Abbot Hall Art Gallery, "Bridget Riley Works 1961-1998", November 1998 - January 1999, No.34 Artist Biography: Bridget Riley’s earlier period during the 1960’s relied almost entirely on black and white optical effects. The artist’s progression into colour was a considered one and gradually her work has shifted from visual illusion to pure ocular sensation. From the mid 1980’s onwards, as can be seen in Study November 14, Riley started using form and colour as elements in themselves, as ultimate identities. The composition consists of individual interlocked sections of colour that are arranged according to their chromatic relationship. These colourful interactions give a sense of movement, depth and space. Riley has also employed diagonal shapes that cut up the picture’s horizontal plane creating a rhythm of contrasting colours and tones.

Many of Bridget Riley’s paintings are of a large scale and can take as long as nine months to develop. The process begins by hand mixing paints and making small colour studies to establish schemes that work. The successful studies make way to large paper and gouache versions that will eventually be re-scaled for transfer onto canvas. The application of paint is done by hand without the assistance of rulers, masking tape or mechanical means.

Bridget Riley was the first contemporary British painter, and the first female, to have won the International Prize for painting at the Venice Biennale in 1968.

Her works can be found in museums in: London, Tate Gallery; Sheffield Galleries and Museums Trust; Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum; Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen; Nürnberg, Neues Museum; Boston, Museum of Fine Arts; Los Angeles, The Museum of Contemporary Art; Minneapolis, Stedelijk Museum; New York, The Museum of Modern Art; Canberra, National Gallery of Australia; Kitasaku, Sezon Museum of Modern Art and Tokyo, The National Museum of Modern Art.